Bookies running scared on McGinley captaincy

This morning’s betting on the 2014 European Ryder Cup captaincyBetting on who will get the 2014 European Ryder Cup captaincy has not yet been suspended despite Rory McIlroy’s call for Paul McGinley and his thumbs down to Colin Montgomerie.

However, William Hill has shut down the market with McGinley rated the red-hot favourite to get the nod while Paddy Power is offering the Dubliner at 1/4 to Montgomerie’s 5/2.

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: “Darren Clarke was the red hot favourite but it seems that he wants to concentrate on playing and the door has opened for Paul McGinley.”

At the close, William Hill had McGinley at 2/7 with Colin Montgomerie 5/2 and Clarke a 16/1 outsider.

Betfair prices were also unvailable following McIlroy’s tweet calling for the Tournament Players Committee to resist the temptation to offer any former captains a second tenure in charge and his desire to play under McGinley in Scotland.

Bookmakers got burnt in 2009 when news of Montgomerie’s surprise appointment was leaked and his odds tumbled from 50-1 to 1-50.

The European Tour does not want a repeat and if a decision is reached at tomorrow’s meeting in Abu Dhabi, the 2014 skipper will be announced immediately afterwards.

Update on 2013-01-14 13:24 by Brian Keogh

Sky Sports News is reporting that Colin Montgomerie’s camp is confident he will get the nod tomorrow:

Sky Sports News golf reporter James Haddock revealed on Monday morning that a source very close to the Montgomerie camp is saying they have “an extremely high level of confidence that the vote is going to go Colin Montgomerie’s way.”

Haddock, out on the range ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, added: “There’s a lot of conversations going on here at the moment, some of them getting slightly heated.

“Thomas Bjorn I saw having a pretty full on, heated discussion with someone and it just shows that there’s a lot of conversations happening with the key players involved in making this decision.”

…

Haddock, after speaking to some of the 15-man committee, said: “Some have said to me they’ve already made their minds up, they won’t say who, others I think may well be prepared to be swayed by discussions tomorrow night.

“But the indications from the Sky source right now is that it looks like Colin Montgomerie may well be in the box seat to be the next Ryder Cup captain.

“It would be a huge shock for pretty much everyone involved in golf really.”

Clarke, who was touted by some of his colleagues such as Lee Westwood as the ideal man for the job, took a step back in the last couple of days when saying he still had hopes of qualifying for Gleneagles as a player.

That appeared to put the ball strongly in McGinley’s court with Sky Bet slashing the Dubliner to just 1/5 to get the captain’s job.

However, the market has now been pulled with the shock revelations about Monty.

Monty hints at another double Ryder Cup captaincy call

Montgomerie with potential Ryder Cup captains Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley. All three were assistants to the Scot at Celtic Manor in 2010.Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke are not always on the same page.

Clarke throws Monty into captaincy debate

Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie share a laugh at the 2011 Italian Open. Picture Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieThe scramble for the 2014 Ryder Cup captaincy is quickly descending into a tale of intrigue worthy of the Vatican.

Monty the dark horse in Ryder Cup race full of intrigue

Colin Montgomerie, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley will be at the epicentre of Europe’s Ryder Cup captaincy debate next week. But could another name emerge at the last minute?Europe will almost certainly name its 2014 Ryder Cup captain next week as the European Tour moves to put a man in place and begin the search for sponsors for what could be a challenging staging at Gleneagles.

According to sources close to the European Tour, the powers at Wentworth are keen to delay no longer and get the marketing campaign up and running and appoint the man to do battle with Tom Watson, who the Americans appointed last month as the man best equipped to wrest back the trophy in Scotland in 625 days’ time.

Talk that the decision could be put off for a month is no longer on the agenda but while it appears clear which candidate or candidates will be at the centre of discussions when the Tournament Players Committee sits down in Abu Dubai next Tuesday, no-one is ruling out a surprise.

"Captain" Clarke to abandon ship?

The Times wondered about a McGinley-Clarke battle for the Ryder Cup captaincy just last Monday. Could it be McGinley v Montgomerie now?So Darren Clarke says he’s contemplating a Ryder Cup captaincy exit stage left to concentrate on his career. It’s also possible that he’s simply trying to save some pride in the face of a potential committee room defeat when the 2014 job comes up for discussion in Abu Dhabi next Tuesday. Even if Clarke follows through and steps aside, you can be sure that Paul McGinley won’t be uncorking the champagne just yet.

McIlroy wants McGinley not Monty as skipper

Rory McIlroy was impressed by Paul McGinley’s captaincy of GB&I in the VivendiSeve Trophy and wants to play under the Irishman in Gleneagles in 2014.World No 1 Rory McIlroy has unequivocally called on the European Tour Players Committee to resist any temptation to hand Colin Montgomerie (or any ohter past captain) the Ryder Cup captaincy and again called for Ireland’s Paul McGinley to be handed the job of leading Europe’s defence at Gleneagles in 2014.

It’s the umpteenth time in the space of 10 weeks that Europe’s leading player has made it clear that he wants McGinley to be handed the captain’s armband. This time, in the wake of growing murmurs that his 2010 skipper might be considered for a second bite of the cherry, he went a step further this time.